Apparatus for operating on finely-divided fluids or solid materials.



No. 757,757. PATENTED APR. 19, 1904.

J. LU'HNB. APPARATUS FOR OPERATING ONIPINBLY DIVIDED FLUIDS 0R SOLID MATERIALS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 27, 1903.

UNITED STATES Patented April is, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHANN LUHNE, OF AIX-LA-UHAPELLE, GERMANY..

APPARATUS FOR OPEBATlNG N FlNELY-DIVIDED FLUIDS OR SOLID MATERIALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 757,757, dated April 19, 19 .04.

4 Application filed. April 2?, 1903. serial No. 154,598. on model.) i

To call whom) it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JoHANN LUHNE, engineer, of Maxstrasse 10, Aix-la-Chapelle, in

the Empire of Germany, have invented a cer- In the carrying out of the present invention every possible treatment of and operation on all kinds of substances are centralized by elements placed one above the other and of the form of tubular bodies with prismatic surfaces of flow or treatment, these surfaces being inclined, flat, pointed, or otherwise, and starting either from the center of the apparatus or being directed toward the center. The said surfaces may be cooled or heated, as required. According to the industrial or chem- .oIn contradistinction to the methods. now,

employedas, for example, in the purification of gases by allowing them naturally and without compression to come in contact with moistened surfaces or with a spray of water or with vapor, which methods do not result, as required, in theperfect purification of the gas or the" total conservation of the byprod+ uctsthis new .method and new apparatus realize by means of a forced circulation perfeet purification as well as the total conservation of the by-products produced from the gas and gathered in stages. The output of the apparatus is thus far superior to that of the standard washer without requiring motive power. This rapid action is due to the use of injectors, spray-distributors, &c., which direct the absorbing, cooling, or other substances, according to the nature of the treatment, under pressure onto surfaces of a special formation, which start from the center or are directed toward the center and drive the gas under pressure and with forced circulation from one to another in performing the operation either of suction or forcing.

By moistening the surfaces of precipitation with oil simple purification and cooling can be obtained by suction. Since the materials to be treated strike and rub in their passage through the apparatus against the pointed and inclined surfaces in the shape of knifeblades, they are continually cut and divided without any loss of pressure,and by reason of the extended length of the surfaces,as well as the admission and treatment in stages,all kinds of substances may be subjected to all possible kinds of centralized treatment, either chemical or industrial.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents the apparatus in longitudinal section. .Fig. 2 represents a transverse section of an element, the upper half being a section through a re, the right-handlower quarter being a section along the broken line y y, and

. the left-hand lower quarter showing a section at e .2 of the external surface of A, the interior being omitted. The apparatus consists of a tubular piece A, in which the surfaces of flow, preferably prismatic and sloping toward the center, are arranged in star form.

The walls of the surfaces are indented, thin, and uniformly distributed throughout and can be cooled by air, &c., or be slightly heated.

The star-shape surface is surmounted by a crown or cap B in the'shape of a bell, in which the surfaces slope toward'the periphery and which is surrounded by the channel C. The tubular piece A-isclosed on the top by a cover .1), which serves for the introduction of the materials,, while at the lower end it is closed by a collector E, -,from whence the treated substances arelifted out or otherwise conducted away.

In the superposition of several elements A- B the lower portion of each adjusts itself as a cover onto the upper portion of the other,

which enables any number of these elements to be combined, according to the employment for which the apparatus is required.

The working of the apparatus varies according to the treatment to which the various materials placed in the apparatus are to be submitted. Gases are, for example, introduced into the apparatus through d by the aid of injectors or distributers fed with materials for purifying, mixing, absorbtion, &c., under pressure. The distributing-spray 1 draws in the gases and forces them into the element A B, where they are enriched, amalgamated, and divided by the substance which feeds the distributei". They pass under pressure and by a forced circulation on the surfaces of the crown B, which slope toward the periphery, then onto the surfaces of the piece A, which slope toward the center, and then they pass to a second element of similar construction and operation.

Substances of greater density deposit themselves on the lower portion f of the surfaces I and are collected on the plate 6, from whence they pass into the channel 0, leading to the outside. The gases pass through the opening g of the plate 6, while the deposited substances are led away to the outside and can be recovered separately from each element. The sprinkling arrangements in the shape of distributers 2 and 3 are arranged below the ently in each elementfor instance, naphthalene can be separated by means of oil, cyanogen and ammonia can be absorbed, and sulfhydric acid eliminated by heating the surfaces. Also with one operation other eliminations besides those of ammonia and sulfhydric acid can be made. The apparatus does 11 0t need the use of a gas-exhauster, and in many cases it can be utilized as an exhaust pump or ventilator, for, fed by the steam-injectors, the apparatus can develop a great suction or forcing power. The finished product passes through the tube iinto the collector E, from whence this product, which can be gas, steam, air, liquid, or solid substances, or anything else, flows away through the tubes 3 or L or can be taken out from the collector. In the manufacture of gas for lighting purposes the apparatus may replace the first condenser or it may be utilized for the autocarburation of the mixed gas. When used as a chamber of contact in the treatment or use of strong acids, &c.,.the apparatus may be made of glass, earthenware, or any other suitable material. The apparatus also can be advantageously used for the extraction of gold by Washing sand containing gold or for any other mineral preparations requiring a minute separation. The operations and phenomena resulting from this arrangement of surfaces sloping from the center to the periphery and of other surfaces sloping from the periphery to the center, from the circulation of substances either from the top, to the bottom or from the bottom to the top and from the employment of different materials of treatment are of infinite Variety. They cannot be enumerated in detail to explain all the modifications and combinations to be obtained by the use of this apparatus.

I claim I 1. An apparatus for effecting asuccession of operations on matter adapted to be supplied in a fine state of division and the separation of the products which result in stages, consisting of a series of drum-shaped chambers of two kinds A and B which are alternately superposed on one another, the bottom of chamber A sloping downward toward a central aperture and the bottom of chamber B sloping from the center downward to its outer periphery, and a shelving partition-plate dividing by its upper edge the central aperture of A into an annular area and an interior circular area, the lower edge of e carrying a channel leading to an external collecting-pipe.

2. An apparatus for effecting a succession of operations on matter adapted to be supplied in a fine state of division and the separation of the products which result in stages, consisting of a series of drum-shaped chambers of two kinds A and B which are alternately superposed on one another, the bottom of chamber A sloping downward toward a central aperture and the bottom of chamber B sloping from the center down ward to its outer periphery, the surfaces of A and B being indented to increase their area and efliciency and a shelving partition-plate e dividing by its upper edge the centralaperture of A into an annular area and an interior circular area,

the lower edge of e carrying a channel leading by its outer periphery, a shelving aper- .my invention I have signed myname in pres-t ture (if A into in zinnulargrea afnd an interior ence of two subscribing Witnesses. cirou ar area, t e ower e ge o e carrying a channel leading to an external collecting-pipe JQHANN H f 5 and a series of pipes with distributing-nozzles Witnesses: e

for the admission of mixing fluids. HENRY KNORDFLUG, In testimony that I claim the foregoing as E. M. BRUNDAGE. 

